Deterioration of the legal intellect

Father, mother, and son killed in retaliation for filing a fundamental rights petition against five police officers

by Basil Fernando

( April 2, 2015, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka Guardian) Geekiyanage Premalal De Silva filed a Petition in the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in 1989 alleging that some officers of the Panadura Police arrested him in May 1989, without a warrant, on a false charge of robbery and that he was tortured and subjected to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment while in custody.

Deterioration of the Legal Intellect by Thavam Ratna

An attempt to bring an impeachment to the president

Thursday, 02 April 2015

Report reaching us confirms there is an attempt to bring an impeachment to the parliament by a group of parliament members. Rajapaksa loyalists such as Wimal, Dinesh, Vasudewa and Gammampila are planning to present this impeachment to the parliament. There is an attempt to acquire the required signatures these days.

If there is an impeachment brought against the president or a people’s representative there should be major allegation leveled against the person. However this impeachment presented by this group is not for the reason the president has broke the trust but in fear of dissolving the parliament on the 5th of May. If the parliament is dissolved Wimal and his group would become destitute and they will never get an opportunity to become a member of the parliament again. Therefore the intention of this group is to sustain this parliament until 2016 by carrying the Rajapaksa in their shoulders and hang on to his shawl and acquire three to four seats.

However if this group tries to obtain the signatures of the SLFP party members and present this impeachment to the parliament and if the speaker accept this impeachment the president will lose his power to dissolve the parliament. This pro Rajapaksa group is trying to use this opportunity to protect their MP post by dragging this parliament until 2016.

Homosexuality, Happy Marriages & Mangala Saga

By Rajiva Wijesingha -April 3, 2015

Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha MP

Have only just seen Mangala Samaraweera’s bizarre assertion of innocence(his name in the old days) regarding his recent visit to New York with a gentleman from his personal bureau. It must have been someone with a particularly whimsical sense of humour who declared of young Sameera, as though it would crush all rumours, that ‘Manahara is the happily married father of a beautiful baby girl’.

Did Mangala realize when he signed off on this that the implication is that, had Sameera been unmarried, there might have been cause for worry about the public funds spent? Did he realize that, had Sameera been married, but not had children, beautiful or otherwise, the country might have thought the New York stay was for ulterior motives?

All this is a great pity, because Mangala has never been hypocritical about himself, and he should have realized that the issue was the money spent, not about whether Sameera is happily or unhappily married. I now begin to understand why

Jayampathy Wickremaratne did not accept my suggestion, when we were drafting the manifesto, that the entire Bill of Rights he so efficiently put together at my urging way back in 2008/2009 be included. The Committee had been set up in accordance with a pledge in the 2005 Mahinda Chintanaya but had given up because I think Jayampathy was by then deeply suspicious of the President. Nevertheless he reactivated the Committee at my request when I became Secretary of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights (then too I had what more experienced politicians think is the simplistic view that a government should stand by the commitments in its manifesto).

The draft was good and I tried to get the Minister to put it on the agenda but he was nervous, since the President had also told him to hold back until after the election on the Human Rights Action Plan the Ministry had put together. That, thankfully, was adopted after the election even though the Ministry had been abolished. But there was no movement on the Bill of Rights, even though I asked the President to take it forward. His claim was that there were some things he did not want, and when I asked what, he said the Bill would legalize homosexuality. He declared that he would not allow prosecutions with regard to homosexuality, which seemed a silly position since the problem with the law is the fear and oppression it engenders.

But I was weak enough to suggest that he take out what he did not like and have the rest passed. He was however adamant, and said the matter could be taken up by Ranil. I suppose he thought that there was no chance of Ranil getting into power, but now that the impossible has happened, I hope the UNP at least will support the Bill when it is tabled. Perhaps we can then stop this nonsense about happy marriages, with or without beautiful daughters.

We should be concentrating on preventing waste and ensuring that public funds are spent for public purposes. I have suggested to Karu that the whole idea of a massive private office for Ministers is corrupting, with so many relations being appointed who fulfil no public purpose. But I fear that codes of conduct and streamlined administrative systems are of little interest to anyone else.

AVANT GARDE-BOKO HARAM ARMS DEAL UNDER PROBE

AVANT GARDE-BOKO HARAM ARMS DEAL UNDER PROBE

By Zahrah Imtiaz-2015-04-04

The government is conducting investigations to either establish or dismiss suspicions of whether controversial Maritime Security services company Avant Garde has been supplying weapons to Nigerian terror group Boko Haram, Dr.Rajitha Senaratne revealed
at the Cabinet Media conference yesterday.
The probe into Avant Garde, suspected of dealing with various foreign governments because of cloudy issues relating to its floating armouries and security services, has now been expanded to cover suspected dealings with terror outfits in some African countries.

"We know that Avant Garde worked closely with the Nigerian Government and supplied them with arms. We are now examining the likelihood of Avant Garde having had dealings, including arms supplies, with Boko Haram" Dr. Senaratne said. The Ministry of External Affairs is in touch with the Nigerian Government with regard to possible weapons dealings.
Suspicions of Avant Garde's possible involvement in arms dealings with terror organizations surfaced after Sri Lanka's Ambassador to Moscow, Udayanga Weeratunga was accused by the Ukrainian Government of supplying weapons to Ukrainian rebels. "We cannot find the ambassador. We are looking for him and investigating how this man got hold of the weapons which he supplied to the Ukranian rebels. Given his close relationship with the Rajapaksa's and the government, we also think that he might have got the weapons through the firm Avant Garde and their floating armouries."

Meanwhile, Police are probing the death under mysterious circumstances of a man identified as Noel Ranaweera who was employed at the Lankan Envoy Weeratunga's Embassy Complex in Moscow and subsequently at a hotel in Moscow owned by Weeratunga. Ranaweera's body was flown down in June last year for burial but was exhumed Thursday under Court Order in a sequel to a complaint that includes a reference to Udyanga Weeratunga.

Minister Senaratne said Avant Garde Chairman Nissanka Senadhipathi had been a close associate of former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed who was recently imprisoned for 13 years by the Maldivian Courts on terrorism related allegations. Investigations into Avant Garde will also look into whether the company supplied the former Maldivian President with weapons.
The minister added that the subject pertaining to private organizations acquiring weapons through the government for re-sale to third parties was reeking with terror-related possibilities that the government has begun to probe. There's been no indication of any government post-sales follow-up to establish the sources to which private companies sell the weapons bought through a government agency.

Minister Senaratne said "the former Defence Secretary has affirmed that none of the weapons belong to the government. In that case where did they come from? We suspect them to have come from the LTTE". He added that the government had not kept any systematic record of weapons and gold collected from the LTTE, en masse, especially during the last stages of the war, when thousands of weapons of fallen LTTErs, arms caches, sophisticated multi-barrel weapons, gold and other valuables fell into government hands.

The Avant Garde Maritime Services website in the meantime carries a statement that says:
"Weapons are owned by the Sri Lanka Government, hence origin of weapons are indisputable. Each of these will be accompanied by an 'End User Certificate' issued by Ministry of Defence.
They will always be accompanied by a Sri Lankan Sea Marshal of Rakna Arakshaka Lanka (RALL) as custodian during passage of the ship. It is mandatory that these weapons are returned at any other location of the Closed Circuit Network, at which time, the Sri Lankan Sea Marshal disembarks".

Rajitha helps Eraj to flee country!

Thursday, 02 April 2015

A minister in the ‘Yaha Paalana’ regime has helped Hambantota mayor Eraj Fernando alias ‘toy pistol mayor’ to flee the country, according to reports. It is health and indigenous medicine minister Rajitha Senaratne who has helped him thus.

By now, Rajitha has become the team leader of an operation to help corrupt officials and politicians of the previous regime to run away from the country, and it was him who is behind number one mega deal striker, former economic development minister Basil Rajapaksa’s fleeing the country.

Rajitha had previously promised Eraj to give candidacy from Hambantota district. However, he was in danger of being arrested over the acts of thuggery he had committed during the previous regime, and Rajitha had helped him to leave the country secretly. Reports say he is now staying in Singapore.

There is a special reason for Rajitha’s helping Eraj so much. Rajitha is Eraj’s former boss, when he had led the state-sponsored ‘Pra’ group during the 1987-1989 period. Eraj was directly connected to the killings committed by this group. After the recent election, Eraj had stayed in Rajitha’s home and was sent to Singapore due to fear of arrest. Eraj is expected to remain there at least until the present government is dissolved.

THE BIGGEST THREAT TO AMERICAN LIBERTY

“Overgrown military establishments, which under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty."

Image Credits: U.S. Navy

by JACOB G. HORNBERGER | FUTURE OF FREEDOM FOUNDATION | APRIL 1, 2015

George Washington pointed out, “Overgrown military establishments, which under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to Republican Liberty.”

Wise words by the father of our country, but ones, unfortunately, rejected by modern-day Americans, who love and idolize the enormously overgrown military establishment that now characterizes our federal governmental system.

Eastern Europeans are getting a gander at America’s overgrown military establishment. Yesterday, the New York Times reported that a huge contingent of US military forces is winding its way through Eastern Europe as some sort of good-will tour and also to serve as a message to Russia that the United States is ready to go to war to protect Eastern Europe from Russia’s aggressive designs.

Never mind that it is America’s overgrown military establishment that gave rise to Russia’s so-called aggressive designs. Ever since the end of the Cold War, NATO has been absorbing Eastern European countries with the ultimate aim of absorbing Ukraine, which would enable the US military to place bases and missiles on Russia’s borders.

There was never a possibility that Russia was going to let that happen, any more than the US national-security establishment would permit North Korea to place military bases and missiles on Mexico’s side of the Rio Grande. In the eyes of those who believe that America’s overgrown military establishment can do no wrong, that makes Russia the aggressor in the crisis.

But let’s face it: These people are ingenious at producing crises and then playing the innocent. The fact is that NATO should have been dissolved at the end of the Cold War. It wasn’t dissolved for one big reason: in order to produce endless crises with Russia so that Americans would feel the need to keep their overgrown, Cold War-era, military establishment in existence.

Moreover, under what authority is America’s overgrown military establishment telling Eastern Europeans that the United States will come to their defense in a war against Russia? I thought that under the US Constitution it is the responsibility of Congress to decide when America goes to war. The US military march through Eastern Europe is just another sign of how the national-security branch of the federal government — the most powerful branch — calls its own shots when it comes to foreign policy.

Moreover, it’s a sign of the times when America’s overgrown military establishment is our country’s good-will ambassador. It used to be that the American private sector served that purpose. Not so anymore. Now, it’s US generals and other military personnel who serve that purpose, as they parade through Eastern Europe showing off their tanks and other military equipment, just like the Soviets did in their May Day parades.

Meanwhile, America’s overgrown military establishment is also engaged in a massive military exercise called Operation Jade Helm, only this one isn’t in some foreign country but instead right here at home. With more than 1200 participants, including Army Special Forces, Navy Seals, and Marine Special Operations, this large-scale military operation is slated to launch in around 20 cities in the American Southwest.

Perhaps it would be wise to review America’s founding principles regarding overgrown military establishments and the threat they pose to the liberty of the citizenry, in addition, that is, to the sentiments against overgrown military establishments expressed by America’s first president, George Washington:

James Madison: “A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defence agst. foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people.”

Patrick Henry: “A standing army we shall have, also, to execute the execrable commands of tyranny; and how are you to punish them? Will you order them to be punished? Who shall obey these orders? Will your mace-bearer be a match for a disciplined regiment?”

Henry St. George Tucker in Blackstone’s 1768 Commentaries on the Laws of England: “Wherever standing armies are kept up, and when the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.”

Commonwealth of Virginia in 1788: “… that standing armies in time of peace are dangerous to liberty, and therefore ought to be avoided, as far as the circumstances and protection of the community will admit; and that in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to and governed by the civil power.”

Pennsylvania Convention: “… as standing armies in time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military shall be kept under strict subordination to and be governed by the civil power.”

US State Department website: “Wrenching memories of the Old World lingered in the 13 original English colonies along the eastern seaboard of North America, giving rise to deep opposition to the maintenance of a standing army in time of peace. All too often the standing armies of Europe were regarded as, at best, a rationale for imposing high taxes, and, at worst, a means to control the civilian population and extort its wealth.”

Finally, let’s wrap up this piece with the warning that President Eisenhower issued in his 1961 Farewell Address regarding America’s new, Cold War-era, overgrown military establishment:

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. . . .Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. . . . In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted.

Netanyahu says in any nuclear deal Iran must recognise Israel's right to exist

JERUSALEM | BY ORI LEWIS-Sat Apr 4, 2015

(Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that any final nuclear deal with Iran must include a commitment from Tehran recognising Israel's right to exist.

Netanyahu, whose address to the U.S. Congress last month failed to stop the United States and five other major powers agreeing a framework accord with Tehran on Thursday, made the demand after his security cabinet met to discuss the deal.

"Israel demands that any final agreement with Iran will include a clear and unambiguous Iranian commitment of Israel's right to exist," Netanyahu said in a statement.

"Israel will not accept an agreement which allows a country that vows to annihilate us to develop nuclear weapons, period."

U.S. President Barack Obama, who called Thursday's agreement a "historic understanding", called Netanyahu within hours of the talks concluding, saying the deal represented progress toward a lasting solution that cuts off Iran's path to a nuclear weapon.

But Netanyahu said a final accord based on what was agreed in Lausanne, Switzerland "would threaten the survival of Israel" and rather than blocking Tehran's path to the bomb, "would pave it".

"This deal would legitimise Iran's nuclear programme, bolster Iran's economy and increase Iran's aggression and terror throughout the Middle East and beyond," Netanyahu said.

"It would increase the risks of nuclear proliferation in the region and the risks of a horrific war."

Obama mentioned several times during his speech on the deal that the United States stood with Israel on security and would not allow "any daylight" between their positions, but the reassurances have not satisfied Netanyahu.

Israel, believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, has previously said it could take pre-emptive military action if necessary to stop Iran getting such weapons.

While that rhetoric has died down over the past year or so, the head of Israel's military planning directorate said it was still a possibility.

"The military option has always been on the table, as we have said all along," Major-General Nimrod Sheffer told Israel Hayom newspaper on Friday. "If it has not been mentioned much in the media recently, that does not reflect a change in policy."

The chances of Israel going it alone militarily against Iran would appear to be very slim, but with the Republican-led Congress also critical of the deal, Netanyahu may feel he can put pressure on the U.S. administration to push harder.

"The alternative is standing firm and increasing the pressure on Iran until a better deal is achieved," he said.

 

(Writing by Luke Baker and Ori Lewis; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

‘Victory for us': interpreting Iran’s nuclear agreement

‘Victory for us': interpreting Iran’s nuclear agreement

Unlike the US, the Iranians are not putting out fact sheets about the scale of nuclear reduction because they would rather be a little vague on the compromises they’ve made.

Friday 03 Apr 2015

Yesterday all anyone wanted to talk about was harmony. After eight days of hard negotiations, the US and its allies had finally come to an agreement with Iran over its nuclear programme.
‘Victory for Us' Interpreting Iran’s Nuclear Agreement by Thavam Ratna

‘It Is Survival of the Fittest Here’

 Nigeria's IDP camps, residents fight over bags of rice and live in constant fear of attack from the surrounding communities. Can the country's newly elected president finally rally the government to their cause?

BY HILARY MATFESS-APRIL 3, 2015

ABUJA, Nigeria – Tucked behind a brightly painted international primary school and wedged between a series of construction projects sits Abuja’s Kuchigoro Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp. It houses some 1,400 men, women, and children who now live in a series of huts built mostly from refuse, though empty grain sacks and plastic church banners are the most common construction material here.
‘It Is Survival of the Fittest Here’.odt by Thavam Ratna

Cyber attacks by foreign agents are a 'national emergency' Obama says, as he unveils plans to impose sanctions on hackers

• Barack Obama made announcement following high profile cyber attacks 
• Says hackers targeting U.S. from places including Russia, China and Iran
• Critical of 'governments unable or unwilling' to go after 'bad actors' 
• New order allows treasury to freeze or block assets of those involved
• It is hoped the power will take away the financial incentive behind attacks

By FLORA DRURY FOR MAILONLINE-2 April 2015 

-

President Barack Obama declared the threat of cyber attacks by foreign agents a 'national emergency' as he unveiled plans to impose sanctions on hackers in the wake of an epidemic of attacks against American networks.

Obama took aim at Russia, China and Iran as he revealed an executive order which will allow the U.S. Treasury to freeze or block assets of those involved in attacks on 'critical' American computer networks.

The announcement followed a series of high profile incidents, including a devastating attack against Sony Pictures, and data breaches that stole credit card or health data on tens of millions of Americans.

'National emergency': Obama unveiled plans to impose sanctions on hackers after an epidemic of attacks

'It’s one of the great paradoxes of our Information Age — the very technologies that empower us to do great good can also be used by adversaries to inflict great harm,' he wrote in a blog post on Medium. 

Obama said cyber attacks - many which originate from overseas - 'pose one of the most serious economic and national security challenges to the United States'.

He added it required more than 'diplomacy, law enforcement, and cooperation with other nations and the private sector' to tackle.

He wrote: 'It's often hard to go after bad actors, in part because of weak or poorly enforced foreign laws, or because some governments are either unwilling or unable to crack down on those responsible.'

Obama said hackers working in China and Russia target America's defense contractors and the systems designed to support the country's troops, while hackers in Iran were targeting banks and North Korea went after Sony. 

Michael Daniel, special assistant to the president and cyber security co-ordinator, said the new sanctions would 'go after the worst of the worst of malicious cyber actors', while Obama assured people they would 'in no way target the unwitting victims of cyberattacks,' such as people whose computers are hijacked.

However, they did not reveal any specific targets, but officials told the Financial Times it could be used against individual hackers hired by companies or countries.

Threat: The attacks included last year's Sony pictures hack - allegedly carried out by North Korea. Pictured: The secretive state's leader, Kim Jong-un

Anger: It is said the country was unhappy about the film The Interview (poster, right), which depicted an assassination attempt against the North Korean leader, portrayed by Randall Park (left)

They would also not curb the freedom of the internet, Obama stated.

But some privacy activists questioned the broad language in the order, saying it could have unforeseen impacts.

The order could be interpreted to target investigative reporters, said Marcy Wheeler on the privacy blog Empty Wheel.

'Does WikiLeaks' publication of secret Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations qualify? Does Guardian's publication of contractors' involvement in NSA hacking?' she wrote.

'I'm generally concerned about this (order) because of the way national emergencies have served as the justification for a lot of secret spying decisions,' Wheeler added.

But Paul Rosenzweig of the Chertoff Group, a security consulting firm, said the national emergency language is appropriate.

'The use of "national emergency'" is reflective, I think, of the seriousness with which the administration views the problem — and that's a good thing,' Rosenzweig said on the Lawfare blog.

'What is most notable about the order is how strongly the US is flexing its economic muscle. If access to US markets is of value, the administration is signalling, strongly, that continued access may be conditioned on good cyber behavior.

Concern: Some privacy activists questioned the broad language in the order and its unforeseen impacts

However, Obama's advisers were keen to stress how important the new measures were. 

Lisa Monaco, the President's assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism, wrote in a blog: 'In just the past year, we have seen a significant increase in the frequency, scale, and sophistication of cyber incidents targeting the American people, including everything from large data breaches and significant intrusions to destructive and coercive cyber attacks intended to influence the way ordinary Americans exercise their constitutional rights.

'In many cases, these threats stem from actors overseas using malicious cyber activities to inflict harm on Americans without ever leaving their desks.' 

Ms Monaco warned 'no one connected to the internet is immune' to the threat, buyt added the sanctions  are 'not a tool that we will use every day' and 'law-abiding companies have absolutely nothing to worry about'.

China’s former security chief charged with corruption, leaking state secrets

FILE - In this March 9, 2012 file photo, Zhou Yongkang, right, then Chinese Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee member in charge of security, listens to Wang Lequan during a plenary session of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China. Chinese government prosecutors announced Friday, April 3, 2015 that Zhou has been formally charged with corruption and leaking of state secrets, setting the stage for him to become the highest-level politician to stand trial in China in more than three decades. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File) (Ng Han Guan/AP)

By Simon Denyer April 3 at 7:39 AM  

BEIJING — China charged former security chief Zhou Yongkang on Friday with taking bribes, abusing his power and disclosing state secrets, paving the way for one of the most significant political trials in the country in decades and underlining President Xi Jinping’s dramatic consolidation of power.

Zhou, 73, presided over the nation’s huge and extremely powerful state security apparatus, including police and intelligence agencies, until his retirement in 2012, enforcing Communist Party control through a massive network of surveillance and repression. He was hated by many, and feared by almost everyone.

He also controlled much of the country’s huge oil industry, rising to power through its ranks, and was a key member of the party’s apex body, the Politburo Standing Committee. His downfall breaks an unwritten rule, in place for decades, that made members of the Standing Committee immune from prosecution even after retirement.

The indictment accused Zhou of illegally accepting “huge” bribes, “taking advantage of his position to seek benefits for others,” abusing his power, intentionally disclosing state secrets and “causing heavy losses to public property, the state and the people,” China’s top prosecutor said in a statement on the office’s Web site.

“The impact on society is vile; the circumstances are especially serious,” the indictment said.

Zhou was arrested and expelled from the party last year, and the formal charges came as no surprise. The government has presented his arrest as a centerpiece of Xi’s determination to root out corruption, and proof that even senior party members are not above the law.

[A Chinese official has been placed under investigation — for golfing]

In reality, experts said, given that corruption is widespread throughout the party, Zhou’s downfall is more likely to represent Xi’s victory over a rival faction that had attempted to block his rise. The charges had been rumored long before they were made public, and Zhou's downfall came only after intense behind-the-scenes negotiations between powerful Communist Party leaders, experts said.

Zhou's allies included Bo Xilai, the charismatic former party chief of Chongqing, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for corruption in September 2013, and Gen. Xu Caihou, who died of bladder cancer while under arrest on similar charges last month, said Willy Wo-Lap Lam, a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation based in Hong Kong.

“They did not believe that Xi Jinping was qualified to be general secretary,” said Lam, referring to the top position in the Chinese Communist Party. “The army and armed police were also involved. Rumor has it that they planned a political coup. I don't see evidence to prove this, but they did form an organization inside the party to go against Xi Jinping.”

Last month, the Supreme People’s Court said in an annual report that Zhou, Bo and others had “trampled laws” and “engaged in political activities” that were never authorized by the top leadership. The report said they had caused severe harm to the party and the judicial system.

The charges against Zhou were filed in a court in Tianjin, a city around 80 miles by road southeast of Beijing, where the trial will be held. No date has been set. State media promised last month that the trial would be “open,” although diplomats and independent journalists are almost certain to be barred and official reports carefully censored.

The charges relating to leaking state secrets are also very unlikely to be publicly aired: as head of domestic intelligence, Zhou would have had access to the entire nation's secrets, including those of powerful political rivals.

He will be the highest politician to stand trial since the 1981 show trial of Mao Zedong’s wife, Jiang Qing, and other members of the “Gang of Four.” They were convicted of leading the purges, persecution and chaos of China’s 1966-76 Cultural Revolution.

Zhang Lifan, a historian and critic of the Communist Party, said the fact that the news was released on a weekday, rather than at midnight or on a weekend, was a statement in itself, designed to shock Xi’s opponents and warn anyone who “makes a reckless move, that you could be next.”

But Zhang said the power struggle at the top of the party was far from over.

Liu Liu contributed to this report.

Simon Denyer is The Post’s bureau chief in China. He served previously as bureau chief in India and as a Reuters bureau chief in Washington, India and Pakistan.

HSBC is 'cast-iron certain' to breach banking rules again, executive admits

Exclusive Bank’s global head of sanctions told monitors in private meeting that HSBC’s size made large-scale regulatory breaches a virtual inevitability

HSBC said it did not recognise the comments in the recording. Photograph: Felix Clay for the Guardian

Stuart Gulliver appearing before a parliamentary committee in February. Photograph: Reuters

A Harry Davies and James Ball-Thursday 2 April 2015
senior HSBC executive has privately admitted that the bank is “cast-iron certain” to have another major regulatory breach in the future, and is struggling on multiple fronts to clean up its worldwide operations.
HSBC is 'Cast-iron Certain' to Breach Banking Rules Again, Executive Admits by Thavam Ratna